Kristen on the Cover of Madame Figaro France + Translation

Between the actress star and the fashion designer, it was an obvious fact. They both cultivate a complicity based on agreements of head, heart and bottom... It is not amazing that the art director of Balenciaga chose the beautiful to embody the image of Floridablanca, the new flavor of the brand. Artists' confidences.

We meet Kristen Stewart before the "scandal" which fed the international press celebrity all summer long. It is to say the ridiculous Puritanism which reigns in the United States, where, in 2012, the whim of a 22-year-old kid can be again set up as deadly sin and lead to an excommunication deserving of the scarlet letter. The earth will continue nontheless to turn. Hollywood will pass in the other thing and beauty queen Stewart will probably get back into the good graces before long. Because everything smiles to this bright actress, to the happy mortuary and to the underlined charisma: last June, she took the head of the Forbes ranking of the ten American the best paid actresses (27 million euro approximately for the past year). There is something of terribly animal at this beautiful girl with the green eyes and with the deep voice, to whom the world belongs. Her look did not escape Nicolas Ghesquière, very sharp art director of Balenciaga, who has a sound to spot the atypical or the rebels (Charlotte Gainsbourg, Jennifer Connelly) and chose Stewart as muse of his new woman perfume, Florabotanica, a given name which makes reference to the botanical gardens of the XVIIIth century in which the rarest and the most exotic botanical species lived. Where from the concept of a heady garden, alternately enchanted or poisonous, in which princess Kristen would get lost. Interview in two voices.

Madame Figaro. - Do you remember your first meeting?

Kristen Stewart. - I remember it as if it was yesterday: it was on a photoshot for a magazine, with Bruce Weber, I was quite young, I had to be 14 or 15 years old. I was kind of used to photography sessions, but that does not mean I was in my element. It was the first time I crossed the path of Nicolas and when I identified clearly the brand, Balenciaga. I had the intuition that we would see again each other. At that time, I knew nothing about fashion: at least, people are capable of quoting Chanel; me, no, absolutely nothing. I was intimidated enough, I was neither a model nor a known actress, and I was there, in the center of the fashion world. We could feel on set a so contagious energy that I was seized, an energy comparable to the one who makes me like the cinema. Today that I know better this world, I assure you that we can easily make the difference between those who create because they are carried by an internal necessity, and the others, the followers. Nicolas is a member of the first category, he is extraordinarily invested. It is an obvious fact: there is only to see as his face gets clearer when he looks at a garment. A light emanates from him.
Nicolas Ghesquière. - The ideal, it is when clothes are embodied. When Kristen wears one of my creations, I clearly see that she takes it up and that then everything makes sense. When I saw her the first time, I knew immediately that she and I would share something. It was indistinct, but I was sure of that. I urged to see her again and I began to send her signals: can we dress her? Would she agree to see the current collection? It was the beginning of our dialogue.

You seem to be free spirits, each in your respective domains...

Kristen Stewart. - it is necessary to accept yourself. If we really want to come true, you should not be ashamed of who you are, you have to face your choices. To say : when i did this, i was l'île That, i am different nowadays. It's useless to look into the mirror, you have to keep going forward. We criticize my work. It's my decision to make something positive and to progress out of it. I always trusted myself, that does not mean that I fall asleep on my laurels or that I do not make a mistake. Everything evolves and the life takes care to make you move.
Nicolas Ghesquière. - Otherwise, we are stuck and we atrophy.
Kristen Stewart. - I hate what stagnates. It is necessary to create, to go towards the novelty. Even when we do not like each other.

Nicolas, how do we make the resistance in such an environment ? Does it require Will, some stamina?

Nicolas Ghesquière. - We are carried by a desire, but we ignore where this power of the desire comes from. Later, we work hard to make the difference, and the expectation towards yourself is big. The freedom of speech exists at the price of this permanent questioning.
Kristen Stewart. - Absolutely, it is ceaselessly necessary to question yourself but not to be afraid either of letting it go.
Nicolas Ghesquière. - In the fashion, everything is disproportionate: we love or we hate, but there is a half-measure, never of warmth...

Do you have a dangerous job for your nerves ?

Nicolas Ghesquière. - There is obviously way more dangerous jobs, but the risk lies in the very permeable border between what we are and what we make.
Kristen Stewart. - Similar to the cinema. It is not so normal, these jobs which cannibalize our lives. For my part, it never stops. As soon as we tell me a story, I think: would it make a good movie? Everything becomes confused and the life leads me ceaselessly to movies. To be an actress, it is to try to understand. It is also what I try to make every day. Then, when a journalist asks me: " does it ache? Does that matter ? ", I answer: " Yes, but it is so good! "

Is it easy to stay yourself, subjected to such a high pressure ?

Kristen Stewart. - Yes, if we dash challenges to preserve a line of conduct.
Nicolas Ghesquière. - Kristen and I began early, and when we begin early, we harden faster: we have to fight more to convince and make our point of view heard.

Kristen, are you from now on trendy creature?

Kristen Stewart. - I have never had problems with what I wore, even when it was approximate and when we noticed it. What I observed since then, on the other hand, it is that a garment, even if it does not change you, can make you understand things on yourself or make you discover new territories. A garment, it is as a movie: a door opened on a horizon. This is why the fashion is fascinating and this is why I appreciate it.
Nicolas Ghesquière. - There is a side effortless at Kristen: she wears a dress effortlessly. And she goes quite naturally towards strong pieces...
Kristen Stewart. - As I am rather casual, people think that the fashion does not interest me.... Nevertheless I go exactly towards the opposite of the casual!
Nicolas Ghesquière. - She embodies ideally a modern sophistication. It was blatant in the last Cannes film festival, during the presentation of on the Road, Walter Salles's movie.

Nicolas, would you say of Kristen that she is your muse.

Nicolas Ghesquière. - Much better than a muse! When she wears one of my clothes, she confirms it and I am fulfilled. Between us, there is a relation and I want to continue this conversation.
Kristen Stewart. - With Nicolas, I can participate, and it is what pleases me: be active.

Kristen, the magazine Forbes awards you the first place in its ranking of the actresses the richest in the year, and thus the most powerful...

Nicolas Ghesquière. - It is promising! (He laughs.) Strong choices, legitimacy, energy, sensibility I take!
Kristen Stewart. - The power? It means some more of responsibilities and movement because nothing in the life has to remain immovable. I hope to be reflected and to responsible. I do not live a frivolous life, but I do not either see myself making as many actors, charity galas only because it is popular! I do not want to scatter, I want to be sincere and to be invested in all that I make... As for the Forbes ranking: nonsense! (She laughs.)

Kristen Stewart by Nicolas Ghesquière

"She is brave, really brave. She made artistic strong choices, which translate a radicality. She embodies the creative freedom. And I do not speak either about her charisma or about her beauty. It is a source of inspiration. "

Nicolas Ghesquière by Kristen Stewart

"It emanates from him such a quiet strength, such an invincibility and such an authenticity. I want to follow him blindly! "